Juliet And Paris
by Error in G
Summary: Wouldn’t Edward, indifferent as he might be, want me to be as happy as was possible under the circumstances? I seized my opportunity... I turned my head slightly until I could press a kiss into Jacob's palm. Oneshot.


**Fan Fiction  
**Twilight  
_Juliet And Paris  
_

**DISCLAIMER: **_I acknowledge that none of the Twilight rights belong to me, nor did I create the Twilight saga or any character originally in it. I take credit only for any original characters and/or the plot variations._

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **_Here I am, pulling for team Edward all the way, writing a Bella/Jacob piece. This is just what could have happened before Alice showed up. Parts in italics taken from New Moon, chapter sixteen._

**X-X-X**

_Wouldn't Edward, indifferent as he might be, want me to be as happy as was possible under the circumstances? Wouldn't enough friendly emotion linger for him to want that much for me? I thought he would. He wouldn't begrudge me this: giving just a small bit of the love he didn't want to my friend Jacob. After all, it wasn't the same love at all._

_Jake pressed his warm cheek against the top of my hair. _

_If I turned my face to the side—if I pressed my lips against his bare shoulder… I knew without any doubt exactly what would follow. It would be very easy. There would be no need for explanations tonight. _

_But could I do it? Could I betray my absent heart to save my pathetic life?_

_Butterflies assaulted my stomach as I thought about turning my head._

_And then, as clearly as if I were in immediate danger, Edward's velvet voice whispered in my ear. "Be happy," he told me. _

_I froze. _

_Jacob felt me stiffen and released me automatically, reaching for the door._

"Wait," I said, "Just a minute." I pushed the echo of Edward's voice out of my mind, concentrating only on the boy in front of me.

Jacob's hand rested on the door handle, but it stilled in response to my voice as he turned to look at me once more. I remained almost unmoving, except for my hand which reached out and took his. He looked down at our hands and then back up at my face. "Bella," He asked, curiously. "Don't you want to go inside?"

I didn't know what to say. I muttered "No," and then proceeded to look into his eyes. I thought of Edward, so fair, so cold and beautiful. I knew that I could never love Jacob like I had loved Edward, but I also knew that I would never be able to give Edward the love that I wanted to give him again. Time seemed to pass slowly, as my mind could only think two words: _Edward, Jacob, Edward, Jacob…_ I suddenly wished that I had just kissed his shoulder minutes earlier—or had it been hours?—to save myself this decision now. Something inside of me told me that it was now or never. If I was going to do this with my own personal Paris, it would have to be now. And I knew that if I didn't choose Paris that I would be alone forever, because Romeo was never going to come back. He would never care to be with me again.

Jacob started to fidget nervously, I could feel it. His hand would twitch every now and then, and he licked his lips nervously. I wondered what he was thinking as he slowly pulled his hand out of mine. I was no longer surprised as he moved it to cup the side of my face, cradling it in his big hand.

I seized my opportunity, roughly forcing all but one word from my thought process:_ Jacob._ I turned my head slightly until I could press a kiss into his palm. I kept my eyes closed so that I couldn't see his reaction; curious as I was, I was also terrified.

Jacob's breath came out in a rush, and I could feel it on my face. I realized that he must be closer to me than he had been when my lids had closed, and so I opened them. Jacob's dark eyes were only inches from my own, so close that I could feel the extreme heat radiating off of his face. He was staring intently into my face, and before I knew it his lips were pressed on my own.

My traitorous thoughts screamed that I was being unfaithful to Edward, to my Romeo, but I ignored them. I lifted my hands to lay one on either side of his face, holding it close to my own. His lips seemed unusually warm and soft against my own, much warmer and softer than Edward's. I moved my lips against his, molding them perfectly to the shape of them. I felt elated.

Jacob violently forced my lips apart, hesitantly pressing his tongue into my mouth. I felt the blood rise to my cheeks and wrapped by arms around Jacob's neck, pulling myself up to him. My heart beat unevenly in my chest, the feeling of elation growing stronger than any other feeling coursing through my veins: I knew that it was spreading through them as surely as my blood was being pushed through my veins by the rapid beats of my heart.

I tried to keep my brain immobilized, surprised that it wasn't already immobilized, considering the way that I was being kissed. The simple truth was that I had never been kissed like this: Edward had never kissed me like this. Edward was far too careful; he would have been mortified if his careful self-control had slipped enough to allow a kiss like this through. Maybe that would be the biggest benefit of being with Paris instead of Romeo… maybe Paris could help drive Romeo out of my mind, if only for brief moments like this. I didn't like to think about it, but there was a certain undeniable appeal to this option.

Jacob pulled his tongue slowly from my mouth, inching his face slowly away from mine. His deep, chocolate-colored eyes bored into my own. His smile, the one that brightened my life, played on his lips. "Thank you, honey." He whispered, one hand still cupping my face. I dropped my hands into my lap, returning his smile.

I had no way of knowing what was waiting for me inside my own house, but I had the inescapable feeling that my future had just altered from the path that it had been on just minutes before. Happily, I sighed, ready, for the first time in months, to face my future.


End file.
